(Photo/Elisabeth Rutledge)
This embryonic mouse at day 10.5 has a special glow thanks to the fluorescent labeling of its neurofilaments, which are major structural element of neurons. The picture by Elisabeth Rutledge, a PhD student in the lab of Andrew McMahon, PhD, won the July 2013 Image of the Month contest at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC.
By Amy E. Hamaker
Amyloid fibers, abnormal protein aggregates, have been associated with more than 20 serious human diseases, including neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases.
However, Ansgar Siemer, PhD, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute within the Keck School of Medicine of USC, is working on some amyloid fibers that can actually be necessary for long-term memory in fruit flies and other organisms.
Siemer will have the chance to research how this is possible thanks to a recent three-year award from the Whitehall Foundation. … Read More »
Mongolia’s economic growth rate in 2012 was 12.3 percent — one of the highest in the world — but that same growth has caused rapid urbanization. These changes have resulted in serious health problems that Mongolia currently lacks the capacity to address. International support has come from volunteers, including a team of physicians and health-care professionals from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA).
For the last 15 years, David Warburton, MD, professor developmental biology program in the Department of Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and part of the Saban Research Institute of CHLA, has been volunteering in Mongolia’s capital city of Ulaan Baatar and the surrounding Gobi Desert.
Recently, Warburton and his colleagues received a five-year, $1.25 million grant from the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences to continue their research on air pollution and to build capacity among child health experts and government agencies in Mongolia. … Read More »
Based on a comprehensive study that included more than half the U.S. Asian-American and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI) populations, a team of scientists led by members of the Keck School of Medicine of USC and Cancer Prevention Institute of California (CPIC) has produced the first-ever analysis of national cancer incidence trends among 11 Asian-American and NHOPI groups.
The researchers examined rates and trends from 1990 through 2008, using data collected by 13 registries of the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program. The groups studied in detail include Asian Indians/Pakistanis, Chinese, Filipinos, Guamanians/Chamorros, Japanese, Kampucheans (Cambodians), Koreans, Laotians, Native Hawaiians, Samoans and Vietnamese. … Read More »
Ruth K. Peters, ScD (nee Ruth Ann Kloepfer), died from complications of progressive supranuclear palsy on July 20. She was 69. … Read More »
(Photo/Christine Tam)
Hundreds of people joined in a demonstration in proper hand hygiene given by members of Keck Medical Center of USC at a health fair on July 28. The … Read More »
By Amy E. Hamaker
Big changes are coming to the Health Sciences Campus neighborhood as part of the USC HSC Master Plan. As part of the community, USC recently invited neighborhood residents to add their input to the process.
Two special workshops on implementation of the HSC Master Plan and streetscape were held for community members on Aug. 3 and Aug. 8 at Hazard Park. The events were co-sponsored by the LA-32 Neighborhood Council and the office of Councilmember José Huizar.
Approved by university trustees in 2011, the Master Plan guides future campus growth for academic, research and clinical space over the next 25 to 30 years. Boundaries include Valley Blvd. (north), Soto St. (east), Zonal Ave. (south) and Mission Rd. (west). … Read More »
John Ferrelli
John Ferrelli has been appointed to the position of chief administrative officer (CAO) for USC Norris Cancer Hospital, effective Aug. 1. Ferrelli will be responsible for managing and coordinating the administrative, fiscal and operational activities of USC Norris Cancer Hospital.
“The CAO is a new position for our cancer hospital, and one that will be key in ensuring continued growth of inpatient and outpatient cancer services in and beyond the Health Sciences Campus,” said Scott Evans, PharmD, MHA, CEO of Keck Hospital of USC and USC Norris Cancer Hospital.
By Cristy Lytal
Three newly assembled research teams within USC Stem Cell, the regenerative medicine initiative at USC, will take steps that could lead to future stem-cell based therapies for certain forms of deafness, bone defects and pediatric leukemia.
The teams are the winners of USC’s Regenerative Medicine Initiative (RMI), a University-wide program kick-started by $1.2 million in funding from the office of Carmen A. Puliafito, MD, MBA, dean of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Each RMI Award provides up to $200,000 per year for two years to multi-investigator research collaborations that harness the full potential of USC-affiliated faculty members. … Read More »
By Leslie Ridgeway
Thomas McAfee, MD, dean of clinical affairs at UC San Diego Health Sciences, has been appointed the CEO of the newly forming Keck Medicine of USC Medical Foundation. He begins his new role on Sept. 3.
The development of a community medical foundation intended to add primary and specialty practices into the Keck Medicine network was a key initiative identified as part of the clinical enterprise-wide strategic plan. … Read More »
USC physicians continued to make impressive gains this year in an annual ranking of doctors in the San Gabriel Valley.
In all, 345 USC physicians have been included in Pasadena Magazine’s 2013 roster of “Top Doctors,” up from 273 last year and 170 in 2011. The doctors represent 34 different specialties, including oncology, radiology, neurology, orthopaedic surgery, ophthalmology and cardiology. They comprise nearly one-third of the magazine’s entire roster. … Read More »
By Josh Grossberg
Becoming a doctor requires years of attending lectures, watching PowerPoint presentations and reading stacks of thick textbooks filled with charts and graphs.
But at some point, young students and physician residents at Los Angeles County + USC will have to put down the heavy tomes and pick up a scalpel or a needle holder to begin the work of helping to make patients better.
To help them reach that goal as skillfully as possible, the Department of Surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC provides them with a variety of simulation options to teach procedural based skills. This provides the opportunity to practice — and practice some more — before they ever touch a patient. Now, students and young physicians can hone their skills in an environment that is safe, but also real enough to mimic the stress of a real-life situation. … Read More »
Pancreatic cancer is among the most lethal of all cancers, but the least funded for research. According to American Cancer Society estimates, more than 45,000 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2013, and nearly 38,500 will die. The incidence of this cancer has been slowly increasing over the past decade.
The Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, now in its 15th year, funds projects and programs designed to improve patient care, treatment and, ultimately, survival rates. In its quest to discover the biologic mechanisms of pancreatic cancer, the Hirshberg Foundation recently provided $25,000 to the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. It is the foundation’s first gift to USC. … Read More »
A frightened 39-year-old woman with young children was referred by a friend to the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital because of recurrent lung cancer. A multidisciplinary team, including a radiologist, pathologist, surgeon and oncologist, evaluated her case.
USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center Director Stephen Gruber (left) and Legacy Circle member Jim Bonorris at the Legacy Circle luncheon
Photo/Steve Cohn
Within a week, the woman came to USC Norris, where a lung cancer expert performed minimally invasive robotic surgery. The pathologist performed molecular profiling of her tumor to determine which targeted drugs would be helpful to her.
When USC Norris Director Stephen B. Gruber, MD, MPH, visited the woman the day after surgery, “she was sitting up in bed laughing with her husband and eating ice cream,” he said. … Read More »
Ram Subramanyan, assistant professor of surgery, speaks at a June 13 STOP CANCER event at the Health Sciences Campus. The event, hosted by USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center Director Stephen B. Gruber, recognized STOP CANCER members for their many years of support, and provided an update on the progress of the USC Norris STOP CANCER awardees. … Read More »
Keck School of Medicine of USC ophthalmology fellows Anne Elizabeth Barañano, MD (left), and Jennifer Hu, MD (right), chat with Keck School Dean Carmen A. Pulifito, MD, MBA, at a party at the dean’s home. The June 26 event celebrated the graduation of the school’s retina fellows. … Read More »
Kathleen Ann Burke, a longtime research scientist at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, died June 30. She was 66.
Kathleen Ann Burke
Born in in Newark, New Jersey, Burke graduated from Douglas College and received her Master of Science from Penn State. After graduate work at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, she moved to Los Angeles, where she worked at USC for more than 20 years until her retirement in 2011.
As a scientist, she specialized in researching gene therapy, and managed two large labs. Her last project focused on developing a new therapy for AIDS patients. … Read More »
The Institute for Genetic Medicine recently hosted “Memories of the Way We Were,” a public forum on mental health issues related to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Discussion topics at the June 22 forum included Alzheimer’s and dementia research and treatment, music therapy for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, caregiver support, the effects of cross-generational interaction (seniors and preschool children), and new technological therapy options. … Read More »
The Keck Medical Center of USC will host the annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Blood Management (SABM).
The theme for the annual meeting, which runs from Sept. 19-21 at the Sheraton Los Angeles Downtown Hotel, is “Patient Blood Management —From Bench to Bedside.” The event gives health care professionals from all over the world the opportunity to learn some of the latest trends and techniques in how hospitals can use less blood during medical procedures —or even none at all. … Read More »
Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have been awarded a five-year, $1.8 million grant to study the links between genetics, tobacco addiction and withdrawal in African-Americans.
Adam Leventhal, assistant professor of preventive medicine and psychology and director of the USC Health, Emotion and Addiction Laboratory, will be the principal investigator of the study, which is being funded by the American Cancer Society.
“(African-Americans) have a lower rate of smoking,” Leventhal said. “And they smoke fewer cigarettes a day than whites, but they have a higher risk of cancer, which makes it critical to study the causes of nicotine addiction in African-Americans.” … Read More »